So Many Dishes

If you’ve been reading the recipes I share, you know that I don’t develop my own recipes. Instead, I start with something from a cookbook and tweak it here and there. Most often, I’m cutting down quantities so that it works for just Ken and me. Leftovers are good, but not when we’re left with an overwhelming amount.

Sometimes, though, I end up making a significant change, as I did with the recipe for Catalan shrimp in a sweet red pepper sauce. The recipe is from a cookbook I’ve mentioned numerous times, The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook by Nancy Harmon Jenkins. When I cooked this dish in July 2019, I made numerous notes in the margin. At the bottom, I wrote “do it this way!” That’s how I’ve done it ever since.

Ken must have been having GERD issues when I made those notes, because the first notation is “no onion.” There have been times when he has needed to avoid onions. Thankfully, that’s not the case now, so we decided to add them back in when we made this on Sunday. The other changes were, I suspect, last minute substitutions for ingredients I didn’t have. I included cilantro in place of the parsley the original recipe calls for. (If you’re not a member of Team Cilantro, feel free to use parsley). I also probably assumed that I had saffron and then discovered I was out. I used smoked paprika instead, and eliminated the cayenne of the original. It turned out that we both preferred the dish with smoked paprika. We’ve made it numerous times since 2019, and we’ve kept our seasoning changes.

I roast my own bell peppers for this recipe, but there’s no reason you can’t use jarred roasted peppers. I prefer the taste of freshly roasted peppers; it’s just a matter of having the time to prepare them.

The recipe calls for dry white wine and cognac. A reader recently asked about a substitute for wine in recipes. For a savory dish like this, broth would be a good substitute. My preference would be vegetable broth here, but chicken broth would work, too. And you can skip the cognac. It’s just one tablespoon. I add a tablespoon of a generic brandy, but I don’t think it makes a huge difference in the flavor. It’s not as if you’re flaming the dish.

This is one of those recipes where I cut the amount of shrimp but still make a full batch of sauce. We serve it over medium grain rice, similar to Valencia rice. Actually, I may have a rice problem: we currently have six different types of rice in the kitchen!

If you were in the flash mob dining group during Covid, you may remember this recipe. It was one of the first that I shared.

Catalan Shrimp in a Sweet Red Pepper Sauce

• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup minced cilantro or flat leaf parsley
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 dry white wine
• 1 tablespoon brandy
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

Roast and peel the red peppers. Cut prepared peppers into strips and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat and sauté the shrimp, for about 2 minutes on each side. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Lower the heat to medium-low and add the onion and cilantro until the onion is soft but not browned. Add the peppers and tomatoes and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.

Add the wine and brandy, and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook for about 5 minutes, to cook off the alcohol and slightly thicken the sauce. Add the shrimp and the smoked paprika. Stir to combine and cook for an additional two minutes, until the shrimp are thoroughly warmed. Makes 3-4 servings.

Happy eating!